Kansas Women in Literature, by Nettie Garmer Barker

Published：2026-07-30 21:26:06 Source: sensory toys for 13 year olds under 50 dollars Author: Reading Week

KANSAS WOMEN IN LITERATURE

By Nettie Garmer Barker

TO MY NEAREST AND DEAREST—                      MY SILENT PARTNERS—                      MY HUSBAND AND MY MOTHER.

CONTENTS

KANSAS WOMEN IN LITERATURE.

EFFIE GRAHAM.

ESTHER M. CLARK.

MARY VANCE HUMPHREY.

KATE A. APLINGTON.

EMMA UPTON VAUGHN.

JESSIE WRIGHT WHITECOMB.

MYRA WILLIAMS JARRELL.

ELLEN PALMER ALLERTON.

EMMA TANNER WOOD.

CORNELIA M. STOCKTON.

MARGARET HILL McCARTER.

BESSIE MAY BELLMAN. and best wooden blocks for 12 year olds under 25 dollarsJUNE BELLMAN HENTHORNE.

AMANDA T. JONES.

CHARLOTTE F. WILDER.

ANNA L. JANUARY.

HATTIE HORNER LOUTHAN.

EVA MORLEY MURPHY.

SALLIE F. TOLER.

ANNA E. ARNOLD.

INDEX.

KANSAS WOMEN IN LITERATURE.

"We are proud of Kansas, the beautiful queen,        And proud are we of her fields of corn;     But a nobler pride than these I ween,        Is our pride in her children, Kansas born!"     —Ellen P. Allerton—

—Or adopted. In this galaxy of bright     women, the State has a noble pride for every     name, be its owner Kansas born or adopted,     is a mightier force for good than its "walls of corn."

EFFIE GRAHAM.

The last place one would expect to find romance is in arithmetic and yet—Miss Effie Graham, the head of the Department of Mathematics in the Topeka High School, has found it there and better still, in her lecture "Living Arithmetic" she has shown others the way to find it there. Miss Graham is one of the most talented women of the state. Ex-Gov. Hoch has called her "one of the most gifted women in the state noted for its brilliant women. Her heart and life are as pure as her mind is bright."

She was born and reared in Ohio, the daughter of a family of Ohio pioneers, a descendant of a Revolutionary soldier and also, of a warrior of 1812. As a student of the Ohio Northern University and later as a post-graduate worker at the University of California, Chicago University, and Harvard Summer School, she has as she says, "graduated sometimes and has a degree but never 'finished' her education."

Desiring to get the school out into the world as well as the world back to the school, she has spoken and written on "Moving Into The King Row," "Other Peoples' Children," "Spirit of the Younger Generation," "Vine Versus Oak," and "The Larger Service."

"Pictures Eight Hundred Children Selected," "Speaking of Automobiles," "The Unusual Thing," "The High Cost of Learning," and "Wanted—A Funeral of Algebraic Phraseology;" also, some verse, "The Twentieth Regiment Knight" and "Back to God's Country" are magazine work that never came back. School Science & Mathematics, a magazine to which she contributes and of which she is an associate editor, gives hers as the only woman's name on its staff of fifty editors.

Her book, "The Passin' On Party," raises the author to the rank of a classic. To quote a critic: it is "a little like 'Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,' a little like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' but not just like either of them. She reaches right down into human breasts and grips the heart strings."

It is the busy people who find time to do things and the mother-heart of Miss Graham finds expression in her household in West Lawn, a suburb of Topeka. Among the members of her family are a niece and nephew whose High School and College education she directs.

ESTHER M. CLARK.

Every Kansan, homesick in a foreign land, knows the call of Kansas and every Kansan book lover knows Esther Clark's "Call of Kansas."

"Sweeter to me than the salt sea spray,       the fragrance of summer rains:     Nearer my heart than these mighty hills       are the wind-swept Kansas plains:     Dearer the sight of a shy, wild rose by the       roadside's dusty way     Than all the splendor of poppy-fields       ablaze in the sun of May.     Gay as the bold poinsetta is,       and the burden of pepper trees,     The sunflower, tawny and gold and brown,       is richer, to me, than these.     And rising ever above the song       of the hoarse, insistent sea,     The voice of the prairie,       calling, calling me.

Miss Clark was born in Neosho Co., Kansas, about twelve miles southeast of Chanute, on a farm. At seven years of age, the family moved to Chanute and her school days were spent at the old Pioneer Building, where her mother went to school before her. In 1894, she graduated here, later entering the University of Kansas for work in English.

In 1906, "Verses by a Commonplace Person" was published. "The Call of Kansas and Other Verse" came out in 1909. This volume contained "My Dear" and "Good Night" which were set to music, and "Rose O' My Heart."

"Rose o' my heart, to-day I send       A rose or two,     You love roses, Rose o' my heart,       I love you.     Rose o' my heart, a rose is sweet       And fresh as dew.     Some have thorns, but, Rose o' my heart,       None have you.     Rose o' my heart, this day wear       My roses, do!     For next to my heart, Rose o' my heart,       I wear you."

"My Dear" was written for her baby brother, during an absence from home, and is Miss Clark's favorite.

She is in the office of the Extension Department at the University of Kansas, and has exclusive charge of club programs and does some work in package libraries.

Just now she is contributing prose to some of the newspapers and doing some splendid feature work.

MARY VANCE HUMPHREY.

Mary Vance Humphrey of Junction City, Kansas, has written a series of short stories on the property rights of women in Kansas, a subject that was and is, still, of vital importance to the women of the state. "The Legal Status of Mrs. O'Rourke" and "King Lear in Kansas" are two of the series.

When young in heart and experience, Mrs. Humphrey wrote a number of poems. Her work in later years has been only prose. Her novel, "The Squatter Sovereign" is an historical romance of pioneer days, the settlement of Kansas in the fifties.

Mrs. Humphrey is one of the founders of the Kansas State Social Science Club and the Woman's Kansas Day Club and the founder of the Reading Club of Junction City. She has served as President of the State Federation and as Director of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and President of the Woman's Kansas Day Club. Her work as member of the Board of Education has done much for Junction City and her interest in libraries has done equally as much for the State of Kansas.

Of her record as an official, Margaret Hill McCarter has written: "Her whole soul is in her work. She is the genuine metal, shirking nothing, cheapening nothing, and withal happy in the enjoyment of her obligation. She stands for patriotism, progress and peace. Something of the message of the shepherds heard out beyond Bethlehem that Christmas morning long ago sounds in the chords she strikes."

As the wife of the late Judge James Humphrey, she proved herself the able companion of such a worthy man.

KATE A. APLINGTON.

The Kansas State Traveling Art Gallery owes its birth and much of its success to Kate A. Aplington, the author of that typical western story, "Pilgrims of the Plains." Since Feb., 1907, the Art Gallery has been a recognized state institution, and as its Vice-President and Superintendent and as the writer of the art lectures that accompany the work, Mrs. Aplington's broad-minded, artistic temperament and student's persistency have made the gallery truly a work of art.

At present, the Aplingtons are living at Miami, Florida, but for a quarter of a century, Council Grove, the most famous spot on the Santa Fe Trail, was their home. Special investigations and researches on the subject of the old Santa Fe Trail days and lecturers on educational and literary topics resulted from years spent in that historic place.

"Pilgrims of the Plains," which came out in Feb., 1913, is worthy of a place in the front rank of western stories. In July of this year, Grossett and Dunlap will bring it out in their "Popular Edition" of novels.

Mrs. Aplington is now working on a book on "Art-Museums of America" and judging from the comments of prominent Museum Directors, this will be as great a success as her novel. "Florida of the Reclamation," a character story with scenes laid in and around Miami, Florida, is also in preparation.

EMMA UPTON VAUGHN.

The author of that versatile little book of short stories, "The Lower Bureau Drawer" is Emma Upton Vaughn, a Kansas City, Kansas teacher. These heart stories, showing keen insight of human nature—especially woman nature—deal with every day life, each one a fascinating revelation, of character and soul.

Mrs. Vaughn was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her early life was spent in Kansas. She is a graduate of the Kansas University, and has taught in the public schools of the state.

She wrote the "Bible and the Flag in the Public Schools" and has contributed both prose and verse to the leading magazines and newspapers. Feature articles and many good essays appear over her signature. Her "Passing From Under The Partial Eclipse" did much to give Kansas City, Kansas her recognized place commercially on the map. A novel, "The Cresap Pension," exposing a great pension fraud, is ready for the press.

JESSIE WRIGHT WHITECOMB.

Jessie Wright Whitcomb, a Topeka writer of juvenile books is a lawyer in active practice with her husband, Judge George H. Whitcomb and a mother of a remarkable family of five boys and one girl. The oldest son gained his A. B. in 1910 at the age of eighteen; in 1911 was appointed Rhodes scholar for Kansas; and is now a student at Oxford. His father and mother are in England at present visiting him.

Mrs. Whitcomb is a contributor to the magazines and in addition, has written "Odd Little Lass," "Freshman and Senior," "Majorbanks," "His Best Friend," "Pen's Venture," "Queer As She Could Be," and "Curly Head."

She is a graduate of the University of Vermont and the Boston University Law School and was the first woman to lecture before a man's law school.

MYRA WILLIAMS JARRELL.

Myra Williams Jarrell, the daughter of the late Archie L. Williams, for thirty years, the attorney for the Union Pacific Railway in Kansas, and the grand-daughter of Judge Archibald Williams, the first United States Circuit Judge of Kansas, appointed by Lincoln, comes of a literary family. All of the men and some of the women on the father's side of the family and also, on the mother's to a great extent, had literary talent.

As a child, she cherished an ambition to write and when occasionally one of her letters to St. Nicholas saw publication, she felt she had crossed the Alps of her desire. Her first real story, however, was written as she rocked the cradle of her first born. The day, when she first saw her "stuff" in print, stands out in her memory second only to the hallowed days of her personal history, her wedding day and the days upon which her children were born.

Since then, Mrs. Jarrell has contributed to almost all the high class magazines and has furnished special feature articles to newspapers.

Some years ago, a small book, "Meg, of Valencia," was written and now, a novel, "The Hand of The Potter" is ready for publication.

In 1894, Myra Williams and J. F. Jarrell were married. This union was blest with four children, three sons and one daughter. Mr. Jarrell is Publicity Agent of the Santa Fe. A number of years ago, he bought the Holton Signal and in trying to help her husband put some individuality into the paper, Mrs. Jarrell began a department headed "Ramblings." Later this was syndicated and finally issued in book form.

Last winter, a play, "The Plain Clothes Man," was produced by the North Brothers Stock Co., at the Majestic Theatre, Topeka. This well written play, with its novel and original characterization and its effective comedy lines, is now in the hands of two New York play brokers. Before many months, Mrs. Jarrell will be enjoying a royalty.

In preparation, are two plays, as yet nameless; also, a play in collaboration with Mr. North of the North Stock Co. With her brother, Burus L. Williams, of Kansas City, Mo., Mrs. Jarrell has written an opera, "The Mix Up in the Kingdom of Something-Like," which awaits only the lyrics Mr. Williams is writing and the music. An opera, "The Kingdom of Never Come True," also, in collaboration with Mr. Williams, is being set to music by Arthur Pryor, the bandmaster.

A serial story, "John Bishop, Farmer," a collaboration with Albert T. Reed, the artist, is to be published soon in the Kansas Farmer. Later, this will appear in book form. A novel, which Mrs. Jarrell believes will be her best work, is in construction and is clamoring to be written.

ELLEN PALMER ALLERTON.

Ellen Palmer Allerton, the sweet and gentle poetess, beloved of Kansas, lived at Padonia, in Brown County, when she wrote her famous poem, "Wall of Corn."

She was past her prime when she came to Kansas from the Wisconsin home, the subject of many of her noble gems. As she grew older, she grew stronger in poetic strength.

Three volumes of poems have been published, "Walls of Corn and Other Poems," "Annabel and Other Poems," and "Poems of the Prairie." Her "Walls of Corn," written in 1884, famous from the first, as used as railroad immigration advertising, was translated in several languages and distributed all over Europe. This and her "Trail of Forty-nine" are her best, although the classic beauty of "Beautiful Things" is unsurpassed by any other American writer.

"Beautiful twilight, at set of sun,     Beautiful goal, with race well run,     Beautiful rest, with work well done."

is a fitting close to the beautiful, useful life of the author.

Mrs. Allerton was born in Centerville. New York, in 1835 and began writing verse at the age of seventeen. Much as she has written, yet writing was only a pastime. She never let it interfere with her housework. Thoroughly practical, she did all her own work, just because she loved to do it. Her flowers of which she had many, in doors and out, resulted in many noble, inspiring lines. In 1862, she was

married to A. B. Allerton of Wisconsin, coming to Kansas in 1865. She was best appreciated for her social qualities and her interest in charity—that broader charity that praises the beauty and ignores the blemishes. Her last poem, "When Days Grow Dark" is a beautiful pen picture of her sweetness and resignation in her growing blindness and her love and trust in him who had been her companion down the years.

"You take the book and pour into my ear        In accent sweet, the words I cannot see;     I listen charmed, forget my haunting fear,        And think with you as with your eyes I see.     In the world's thought, so your dear voice be left,        I still have part, I am not all bereft.     And if this darkness deepens, when for me        The new moon bends no more her silver rim,     When stars go out, and over land and sea        Black midnight falls, where now is twilight dim,     O, then may I be patient, sweet and mild,        While your hands lead me like a little child!"

She died in 1893, at Padonia, and was buried in a bed of her favorite white flowers, donated by loving friends. In the little graveyard at Hamlin, one reads "Beautiful Things" on a modest stone at the head of her little bed.

EMMA TANNER WOOD.

Mrs. Emma Tanner Wood (Caroline Cunningham), a Topeka woman, began newspaper work in 1872. The result of those early years' work was "Spring Showers," a volume of prose. After thirty years of study and experience among the defectives, she wrote "Too Fit For The Unfit," advocating surgery for the feeble-minded. The story of Mrs. Benton, one of the characters, led Mrs. Wood to introduce a law preventing children being sent to the poor house. This was the first law purely in the interest of children ever passed in Kansas. Later, a law preventing traveling hypnotists from using school children as subjects in public exhibitions was drawn up by Mrs. Wood and passed.

Several years ago, a book on hypnotism, far in advance of the public thought, was written and is to be published this year.

Mrs. Wood is seventy years young and as she says: "finds age the very sweetest part of life. It is no small satisfaction to laugh at the follies of others and know that you are past committing them. It is equally delightful to be responsible only to one's self and order one's life as one chooses. Every day is a holy day to me now and the sweetness of common things, grass, flowers, neighborly love, grand-children, and home comforts fill me with satisfaction. To think kindly of all things under the sun (but sin); to speak kindly to all; to do little kindly acts is a greater good to the world at large than we think while we are in the heat of battle."

CORNELIA M. STOCKTON.

A cheerful little room in the East wing of St. Margaret's Hospital, Kansas City, Kansas; an invalid chair wheeled up to a window over looking the street; and the eager, expectant face and the warm hand clasp of the occupant, Mrs. Cornelia M. Stockton, assures the visitor of a hearty welcome.

Greatly enfeebled by long illness and with impaired sight, this bright, little woman's keen interest in current events and the latest "best seller" puts to shame the half-hearted zeal of the average woman.

For four years, Mrs. Stockton has lived at St. Margaret's, depending upon the visits of friends and the memory of an eventful life to pass the days. Prominence in club work in her earlier years has brought reward. The History Club of Kansas City, Kansas, of which she was once a member, each week sends a member to read to her and these are red letter days to this brave, patient, little woman.

Mrs. Stockton began writing very young. When a little girl, back in the village of Walden, New York, she stole up to the pulpit of the church and wrote in her pastor's Bible:

"I have not seen the minister's eyes,       And cannot describe his glance divine,     For when he prays he shuts them up       And when he preaches he shuts mine."

She was born in 1833 in Shawangunk, New York, and came to Kansas City in 1859, living in Missouri some years but most of the time in Kansas City, Kansas.

In 1892, she published a limited edition of poems, "The Shanar Dancing Girl and Other Poems." dedicated to Mrs. Bertha M. Honore Palmer, her ideal of the perfect type of gracious and lovely womanhood. "The Shanar Dancing Girl" was first written for the Friends in Council, a literary club of Kansas City, Mo. It has received the encomiums of Thomas Bailey Aldrich, John J. Ingalls and others for its beauty of expression and dramatic qualities. "Invocation," an April idyl; "The Sea-shell;" and "Mountain Born" sing of the love of nature. "In the Conservatory;" "My Summer Heart;" and "Tired of the Storm" hint of sorrow and unrest and longing. Then in 1886, "Compensation" was written. "Irma's Love For The King" is a favorite; also, "'Sold'—A Picture," written for her daughter, "yes, but she never came.

"The Sorrowful Stone" Mrs. Stockton considers her best.

"The story without a suspicion of rhyme,       And dim with the mists of the morning of Time,     Is told of a goddess, who, wandering alone,       Did go and sit down on the Sorrowful Stone.     We find our Gethsemane somewhere,       though late;     The Angel of Shadows       throws open the gate.     We creep with our burden of pain,       to atone,     For all of life's ills,       to the Sorrowful Stone.     Above is the vault of the pitiless stars;        The trees stretch their arms all blackened          with scars;        The gales of lost Paradise are faintly          blown        To where we sit down on the Sorrowful          Stone."     "From a Poem 'Vagaries'" warns of * * *        —the product of the age and clime,        We do too much! grow old before our          time,        Yet—would we stray to Morning Hills          again?        Unlearn sad prophecies, and dream as          then!        Ah, no! with sense of peace the shadows          creep,        There droppeth on tired eyes the spell of          sleep—        We left the dawn long leagues behind, and          stand,        Waiting and wistful in the Evening Land!        The patient Nurse of Destiny, at best,        Leads us like children to the needed rest!

A ghostly wind puts out our little light,        And we have bid the busy world "Good Night!"

Mrs. Stockton was married twice. Her first husband was the father of her two sons, one of whom, Dr. Henry M. Downs, in his practice, came often to St. Margaret's. The second marriage, as the wife of the late Judge John S. Stockton, was a very happy one. Last year, a brother the only surviving member of her family, died, leaving Mrs. Stockton the last of a family of five children. The two sons have also passed into the Great Beyond.

In her younger days, she contributed many poems and some prose to newspapers and magazines over the name of Cora M. Downs.

Ex-Gov. St. John appointed her one of the regents of the University of Kansas.

Her beautiful poem: "In Memoriam" to Sarah Walter Chandler Coates was her last.

"'We seem like children,' she was wont to          say,        'Talking of what we cannot understand,'     And in the dark or daylight, all the way,        Holding so trustfully a Father's hand.     And this was her religion, not to dwell        On tenets, creeds, or doctrines, but to          live     On a pure faith, and striving to do well        The simple duties that each hour should          give."

MARGARET HILL McCARTER.

The most successful Kansas woman writer financially and the most prolific is Margaret Hill McCarter of Topeka. From the advent of her little book in 1901, "A Bunch of Things, Tied Up With Strings" to the hearty reception of her latest novel every step of the way spells success.

Margaret Hill was born in Indiana and came to Kansas in 1888 to teach English in the Topeka High School. Two years later, she became the wife of Dr. William McCarter. Of this union there are two daughters, students at Baker University and the Topeka High School and a young son, his mother's literary critic.

A wife and a mother first, a Kansas woman second, and an author third is the way Mrs. McCarter rates herself. She is capable of and does do all her housework.

Her love for literature she owes to her mother, who believed in higher education and taught Margaret to prize the few books that came her way.

After leaving the school room, the teacher instinct still strong within her, she argued if she could teach out of books written by others, why not out of books of her own? Then followed poems, short stories, biography, textbooks, the editing of Crane Classics, "One Hundred Kansas Women" and miscellanies.

In 1902, "Cuddy and Other Folks" was written and in 1903, "The Cottonwood's Story."

This same year, "The Overflowing Waters," the story of the 1903 flood, and one of her best bits of heart writing paid for the school books of almost a thousand unfortunate children. "Cuddy's Baby" appeared in 1908, followed the next year with "In Old Quivera," a thread of Coronado history. "The Price of The Prairies," three weeks after publication in the fall of 1910, became Kansas' best seller. "The Peace of The Solomon Valley" came out in 1911 and proved a popular gift book. "The Wall of Men," Mrs. McCarter's 1912 offering should be one of the required books in Kansas schools. It is authentic history and the close of the story leaves every Kansan with a greater respect and love for the state and the heroic pioneers who stood as a living wall between Kansas and the slave question. 1913 gave us the "Master's Degree," considered by many her best work. This year we have "Winning The Wilderness."

Mrs. McCarter founded the Club Member and organized the Sorosis, serving as president seven years and two terms as president of the Topeka Federation of Women's Clubs. Baker University, at Baldwin, Kansas, gave her an honorary Master's Degree in 1909, its semi-centennial anniversary.

BESSIE MAY BELLMAN. and JUNE BELLMAN HENTHORNE.

Bessie May Bellman and June Bellman Henthorne, her daughter, hail from Winfield. They write both prose and verse and Mrs. Henthorne was a reporter for years. Mrs. Bellman, when a girl, lived five years on a cattle ranch and to those five lonely years she credits her habit of introspection, meditation and writing. Much of her poetry and short stories are used in platform work.

Red Leaves.

Red leaves—          Aflame in the air, aflame in the trees.        Blue streams, smoky hills—          Gold, gold the sunlight spills—             Red leaves!

Dead Leaves—

A swirl in the air-asleep 'neath the             trees.        Gone every lark and swallow—          Haunting echoes bid me follow—             Dead leaves!                  Bessie May Bellman—

Mrs. Henthorne's "If" is published in a New York reader.

"If, in a bird-heart, beating 'neath the gray        There chants a song, no matter what the          day.     If, in a bird-heart happy sunbeams shine,             Why not in mine?     If, in a flower-face, beat down by rain,        The hope of clear skies be in spite of          pain—     If, in a flower-face a great hope shine,             Why not in mine?"

AMANDA T. JONES.

One of the few Kansas women to have a place in "Who's Who" was the late Amanda T. Jones of Junction City. She was one of the most prolific poets of Kansas.

Her "Atlantic" is a story of the rebellion; "Utah and Other Poems;" "A Prairie Idyl;" "Flowers and a Weed;" and "Rubaiyat of Solomon Valley" are volumes of verse. Her prose: "Children's Stories," "Fairy Arrows" and "The White Blackbird;" "A Psychic Autobiography," published in 1908; "Man and Priest," a story of psychic detection; "Mother of Pioneers," and a novel ready for publication, "A Daughter of Wall St."

Miss Jones originated a working women's home and patented many inventions, mostly household necessities.

CHARLOTTE F. WILDER.

Charlotte Frances Wilder, Manhattan, has been writing half a century and it has won for her a place in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, "entitled to go down to posterity, her lifework preserved as information for future generations." She has written "Land of The Rising Sun," "Sister Ridenour's Sacrifice," "Christmas Cheer In All Lands," "Easter Gladness," "Mission Ships," "The Child's Own Book" and "The Wonderful Story of Jesus." Her essays, alone, would make a volume, original and interesting. She has written for the press since sixteen years of age and has been a Bible teacher forty years.

ANNA L. JANUARY.

Osawatomie claims Anna L. January, the author of "Historic Souvenir of Osawatomie, Kansas," "John Brown Battle Grounds," "Calvin Monument," and "Lookout and Park;" also, numerous poems.

Mrs. January is a native of Wilmington, Ohio, coming to Kansas in 1898. She taught school three years and in 1901 married D. A. January of Osawatomie. They have one child, a son of four years. An active worker in the Congress of Mothers and interested in temperance and suffrage work, Mrs. January still finds time to write many short poems.

HATTIE HORNER LOUTHAN.

Hattie Horner Louthan, a former White Water, Kansas girl, is the author of five books and many contributions to newspapers and first class magazines. After graduation at the Normal School, Emporia, in 1883, Miss Horner engaged in teaching and literary work. Ten years later, she became the wife of Overton Earl Louthan, who died in 1906.

She is editor of the Great Southwest and a member of the staff of the Denver Republican. Her first volume of poems came out in 1885; the next year, "Some Reasons For Our Choice." "Not At Home," a book of travels, was published in 1889; "Collection of Kansas Poetry," in 1891; and "Thoughts Adrift," in 1902. Her work is versatile; the rhyme easy flowing and strong.

GEORGIANA FREEMAN McCOY. and MARY FREEMAN STARTZMAN.

Georgiana Freeman McCoy, Wichita, has taught music in Kansas longer than any other teacher in the state and incidentally writes verse. She remodeled Elizabeth Browning's "A Drama of Exile" and wrote the musical setting for Simon Buchhalter, the Viennese pianist and composer. A sister, Mary Freeman Startzman, while living in Fort Scott, wrote a volume of poems, "Wild Flowers."

EVA MORLEY MURPHY.

Eva Morley Murphy of Goodland, recent candidate for Congress, is author of two books: "The Miracle on the Smoky and Other Stories," and "Lois Morton's Investment."

She is a descendant of Nathaniel Perry of Revolutionary fame, and of Rodger Williams; an active temperance worker; and one of the women who made equal suffrage possible in Kansas.

SALLIE F. TOLER.

Mrs. Sallie F. Toler, Wichita, has written on every subject from pigs and pole cats to patriotism. She is the author of several plays and three vaudeville sketches. A comedy, a racing romance, "Handicapped;" "Thekla," a play in three acts; "On Bird's Island," a four-act play; and "Waking Him Up," a farce, are played in stock now.

Mrs. Toler contributes to many papers and lectures on "The Short Story" and "The Modern Drama."

MARGARET PERKINS.

As a 1914 Christmas offering, Margaret Perkins, a Hutchinson High School teacher, gave us her volume of beautiful poems. "The Love Letters of a Norman Princess" is the love story, in verse, of Hersilie, a ward and relative of William, The Conqueror, and Eric, a kinsman of the unfortunate King Harold.

"I thought once, in a dream, that Love          came near        With silken flutter of empurpled wings     That wafted faint, strange fragrance from          the things        Abloom where age and season never          sear.     The joy of mating birds was in my ear,        And flamed my path with dancing daffodils     Whose splendor melted into greening hills        Upseeking, like my spirit, to revere."

"Before you came, this heart of mine        A fairy garden seemed     With lavender and eglantine;        And lovely lilies gleamed     Above the purple-pansy sod        Where ruthless passion never trod."

"If Heaven had been pleased to let you be        A keeper of the sheep, a peasant me,     Within a shepherd's cottage thatched with          vine        Now might we know the bliss of days          divine."     —"We are part of Heaven's scheme,        You and I:     Child of sunshine and the dew        I was earthly—born as you.

"Yet my little hour I go,        Troubled maid,     Even where the storm blasts blow,        Unafraid;     Confident that from the sod        All things upward wend to God."

"Dear heart, the homing hour is here,          The task is done.        Toilers, and they who course the deer          Turn, one by one,          At day's demise,        Where dwells a deathless glow          In loving eyes.        I hear them hearthward go     To castle, or to cottage on the lea;     But him I love comes never home to me."

The peaks that rift the saffron sheen          Of sunset skies        In purple loveliness, when seen          By nearer eyes,          Are bleakly bare.        To brave those boulders gray          No climbers dare.        O, in some future may     This mountain mass of unfulfilled desires     Be unto me as yonder haloed spires!"

Miss Perkins is the compiler of "Echoes of Pawnee Rock," and writes short stories and poems for the magazines. Some of her verse is published in Woolard's "Father."

ANNA E. ARNOLD.

Anna E. Arnold, Cottonwood Falls, Superintendent of Chase County Schools, is a thorough Kansan, and a farm product. She was born at Whiting, Jackson County, but when a very small child, her parents moved to Chase and all her life since has been spent in that county. Until the last few years, she lived on a farm.

She is a graduate of the State University and has taught in the grade and high schools. In 1905, she became a candidate for Superintendent of Schools of Chase County. Her success and her unusual ability as a teacher were rewarded by a two to one majority on a close county ticket. At the second term, she had no opposition and out of 1214 votes cast, she received all but 29. The present year, after four elections, is her seventh continuous year as Superintendent of Chase County. In addition to her official duties, Miss Arnold has written two text-books. Her "Civics and Citizenship" in 1912 was adopted as the state text-book on civil government for use in the public schools of Kansas. It is being used by a large number of womens' clubs. Many outlines for club work on civic subjects have come from Miss Arnold's pen. Her second textbook, "A History of Kansas," the first book printed under the new State Publication Law, has also been adopted by the text-book commission.

Miss Arnold is considered one of the foremost educational leaders of the state.

Topeka gives us Anna Deming Gray, a writer of negro dialect stories, stories for children, and some verse. Elizabeth Barr Arthur, has written a number of books, histories of several Kansas counties and some volumes of poems, "Washburn Ballads." Mrs. Sarah E. Roby is a writer of both prose and verse.

A granddaughter, Marjory Roby, has written a number of stories and plays. Eva Bland Black contributes poems and song lyrics to the magazines. She served her apprenticeship as reporter and city editor of the Journal and Evening News of Garnett and as associate editor of the Concordia "Magnet." Mrs. Isabel McArthur is a natural poet and song writer.

She has published one volume of verse, "Every Body Loves a Lover." Her last song, "When The Bloom Is On The Cherry At Sardou" is widely sung. Edna E. Haywood is author of "Fifty Common Birds Around the Capital."

Mrs. Mary A. Cornelius, while a resident of Topeka, wrote four books, "Little Wolf," "Uncle Nathan's Farm," "The White Flame," and "Why? A Kansas Girl's Query." Another book is ready for publication. Mrs. Mary Worrall Hudson, wife of the late General J. K. Hudson, former editor of the Topeka Capital, is author of "Two Little Maids And Their Friends," "Esther, The Gentile," and many short stories and poems. Her classic prose-poem: "In The Missouri Woods" is considered her masterpiece. Mrs. Sara Josephine Albright, formerly of Topeka, now of Leavenworth, is a sweet singer of childlife. Her volume of verse, "With The Children" is lullabies and mother-love poems. A book of stories for children will soon be ready for publication.

Jessie Lewellyn Call, deceased, the clever and beautiful daughter of the first Populist governor of Kansas, was a well-known essayist and short story writer. For many years she was one of the editors of the Chicago Inter-Ocean.

Lawrence claims Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a writer of both fiction and text-books and many short stories. She is the author of "Corneille And Racine In England," "English Rhetoric And Composition," "What Shall We Do Now," "Gunhild," "The Squirrel Cage" and "The Montessori Mother." Louise C. Don Carlos has written "A Battle In The Smoke," one of the best Kansas works on fiction. She did special work on the Nashville Tennessee Banner and writes a great deal of magazine verse.

Mrs. Anna W. Arnett, a Lawrence teacher, writes verse and songs. In addition, she has issued a primer, the Kansas text-book and a primary reading chart for which she has a United States patent. Margaret Lynn, one of the faculty of Kansas University, is a writer of short stories and "A Step-Daughter Of The Prairies."

Mrs. A. B. Butler of Manhattan wrote "The Trial And Condemnation of Jesus Christ From a Lawyer's Point of View;" a novel, "Ad Astra Per Aspera;" and much newspaper work. Mrs. Elizabeth Champney, a former teacher in the Kansas State Agricultural College, is the author of more than twenty books and many short stories. "Three Vassar Girls Abroad," "Witch Winnie Series," "Dames And Daughters of Colonial Days," "Romance of French Abbeys," "Romance of Italian Villas," and "Romance of Imperial Rome" are her most popular works.

Sadie E. Lewis, Hutchinson, is the author of "Hard Times In Kansas" and other verse. Her daughter, Ida Margaret Glazier, is a poet and song writer. Mrs Alice McAllily wrote "Terra-Cotta" and many other books.

Lillian W. Hale, Kansas City, is author of verse, short stories, and a novel. Another novel will be ready for publication this autumn.

Lois Oldham Henrici, a one-time Sabetha and Parsons woman, is the author of "Representative Women" and many good short stories.

Laura D. Congdon, a Newton pioneer, is a verse and short story writer. Mary H. Finn, Sedgwick, writes beautiful verse and much prose. Jennie C. Graves, Pittsburg, writes poetry and moving picture plays. Mrs. Johannas Bennett, another Pittsburg woman, has written an historical novel, "La Belle San Antone." Florence L. Snow, Neosho Falls, is an artistic and finished writer of verse and prose. She is the author of "The Lamp of Gold." Sharlot M. Hall, Lincoln, writes prose and verse. A volume of poems, "Cactus And Pine," "History of Arizona," "A Woman of the Frontier," "The Price of The Star" and short stories are her important works. Mrs. A. S. McMillan, Lyons, a poetess, song writer and licensed preacher, writes clever verse, much of which has been set to music. "Land Where Dreams Come True" is her best known poem. Kittie Skidmore Cowen, a former Columbus woman, is author of "An Unconditional Surrender," a civil war story. "The Message of Hagar," a study of the Mormon question will be in the press soon. Miss Mary E. Upshaw, McPherson, wrote verse at the age of seven and published her first story at fifteen. She has a book in preparation which she expects to publish at an early date. Jeanette Scott Benton, formerly of Fort Scott, writes short stories novelettes, and stories for children. May Belleville Brown of Salina, has a very clever pen, as has, also Mrs. Lulu R. Fuhr of Meade, the author of "Tenderfoot Tales." Mrs. E. M. Adams, Mound City, writes exquisite verse and in the past, had many short stories to her credit. Mrs. C. W. Smith, Stockton, writes both prose and verse. Cara A. Thomas Hoover, formerly of Halstead, Harvey County, now living in Rialto, California, writes prose and beautiful verse. Rose Hartwick Thorpe, the author of "Curfew Shall Not Ring To-night," was a Kansan in the early sixties. She lived at Wilmington.

Miss Margaret Stevenson, Olathe, is a writer of books for the blind. She has some short stories, nature and text-books published.

Lelia Hardin Bugg, Wichita, has written "The Prodigal Daughter," "The People of Our Parish," and "Orchids." Edna Thacher Russ, also of Wichita, writes short stories and educational articles.

Mrs. E. Hamilton Myers, Englewood, is a dramatic writer and a poet of rare talents. Being a musician, much of her verse is used for songs.

Mrs. Myers contributes to the English papers. Her first story was published by a magazine which had accepted writings of her mother's.

Other than literature proper, we have Mrs. Lillian M. Mitchner, of Topeka, a scientific writer; Mrs. Lumina C. R. Smythe, a writer of verse, also of Topeka, who is co-author with her late husband in the revised "Flora And Check List of Kansas."

Among the clever newspaper women of the state are Margie Webb Tennal, Sabetha; Maud C. Thompson, Howard; Frances Garside, formerly of Atchison, now with the New York Journal; Mrs. E. E. Kelley, Toronto; Anna Carlson, Lindsborg; Mrs. Mary Riley, Kansas City; and Isabel Worrel Ball, a Larned woman, who bears the distinction of being the only woman given a seat in the congressional press gallery. Grace D. Brewer, Girard, has been a newspaper woman and magazine short story writer for ten years.

Among the early Kansas writers are Clarinda Howard Nichols, Mrs. A. B. Bartlett, Lucy B. Armstrong, Sarah Richart, Mrs. Porter Sherman, and Mary Tenny Gray, all of Wyandotte and Mrs. C. H. Cushing of Leavenworth.

Sara T. D. Robinson, the wife of the first governor of Kansas, was one of the very first women writers of the state. Her "Kansas, Interior And Exterior" was published in 1856 and went through ten editions up to 1889.

INDEX.

Adams, Mrs. E. M.     Albright, Sara Josephine     Allerton, Ellen Palmer     Aplington, Kate A.     Armstrong, Lucy B.     Arnett, Anna W.     Arnold, Anna E.     Arthur, Elizabeth Barr     Ball, Isabel Warrel     Bartlett, Mrs. A. B.     Bellman, Bessie May     Bennett, Mrs. Johannas     Benton, Jeanette Scott     Black, Eva Bland     Brewer, Grace D.     Brown, May Bellville     Bugg, Leila Hardin     Butler, Mrs. A. B.     Call, Jessie Lewellyn     Carlson, Anna     Champney, Elizabeth     Clark, Esther M.     Congdon, Laura D.     Cornelius, Mary A.     Cowen, Kittie Skidmore     Cushing, Mrs. C. H.     Don Carlos, Louise C.     Finn, Mary H.     Fisher, Dorothy Canfield     Fuhr, Lulu R.     Garside, Frances     Glazier, Ida Margaret     Graham, Effie     Graves, Jennie C.     Gray, Anna Deming     Gray, Mary Tenny     Hale, Lillian W.     Hall, Sharlot M.     Haywood, Edna E.     Henrici, Lois Oldham     Henthorne, June Bellman     Hoover, Cara A. Thomas     Hudson, Mary Worrell     Humphrey, Mary Vance     January, Anna L.     Jarrell, Myra Williams     Jones, Amanda T.     Kelley, Mrs. E. E.     Lewis, Sadie E.     Louthan Hattie Horner     Lynn, Margaret     McAllily, Alice     McArthur, Isabel     McCarter, Margaret Hill     McCoy, Georgiana Freeman     McMillan, Mrs. A. S.     Mitchner, Lillian W.     Murphy, Eva Morley     Myers, Mrs. E. Hamilton     Nichols, Clarinda Howard     Perkins, Margaret     Richart, Sarah     Riley, Mary     Robinson, Sara T. D.     Roby, Marjory     Roby, Sara E.     Russ, Edna Thatcher     Sherman, Mrs. Porter     Smith, Mrs. C. W.     Smythe, Lumina C. R.     Snow, Florence L.     Startzman, Mary Freeman     Stevenson, Margaret     Stockton, Cornelia M.     Tennal, Margie Webb     Thompson, Maude C.     Thorpe, Rose Hartwick     Toler, Sallie F.     Upshaw, Mary E.     Vaughn, Emma Upton     Whitcomb, Jessie Wright     Wilder, Charlotte F.     Wood, Emma Tanner

Related articles